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It hadn’t.
She disappeared around the side of the house.
Lowering his head, he stayed in place. He didn’t dare move, even under the pretense of returning to his own room. Because he knew he wouldn’t make it there.
Hell, no, he’d end up following her, and he’d make her hate him when he couldn’t help himself and persuaded her to stay. Persuaded her in a way that would ensure her pleasure—and her hatred.
Fuck, it was hard letting her go.
Rubbing at the ache in his chest, frowning at the tightness there, he wondered at the feeling he’d identified years before as a premonition, a warning of danger.
Who or what could be in danger?
Maybe it was better that Piper was leaving for a few days after all. Her sister had nearly died the year before because she was too close to his partner, Brogan Campbell.
God help anyone who dared to threaten Piper Mackay. He would kill. Perhaps not for the first time, though it would definitely be the first time he’d killed over a woman.
She was worth killing for.
She was worth dying for.
The brilliance that was Piper Mackay couldn’t be contained. She was wild and free, bright and burning, and there were already too many men determined to tame that fire. To lock it in. To take the freedom she fought so valiantly for.
He refused to become one of them.
Jed forced himself to move, to walk slowly and easily across the stretch of lawn that led to the inn and the suite he had taken next to Piper’s.
She was gone and he had no choice but to let her go.
That didn’t mean he liked it.
It sure as hell didn’t mean it was easy.
THREE
Amy’s sister, Gypsy Seavers, was waiting exactly where Piper had directed her to the day before.
The small clearing just past the inn was far enough away that if the other woman had turned her lights off before pulling in, then there was no way in hell Tim could possibly see them. Yet it was close enough for her to jog to, even carrying the two bags she had brought with her.
“Trunk’s open. ” Gypsy’s voice came from the other side of the vehicle as Piper moved for the car.
By the time she reached the trunk, Amy’s sister was standing next to it, lifting it for her as Piper threw her bags in. She took a good look at Gypsy’s face in the trunk’s light. Just to be certain she was who she was supposed to be, Piper told herself, realizing some of Dawg’s lectures on safety might have actually stuck in her mind.
The second Piper moved back from the trunk, Gypsy had it closed and was moving around her to the driver’s side.
“Ready to roll?” the other woman asked, glancing back as Piper watched her.
“Ready to roll. ” A quick nod and Piper was opening the passenger door and sliding inside quickly before pulling it closed.
Gypsy’s door didn’t so much as squeak as she closed it and restarted the vehicle.
She resembled Amy, Piper decided as the car pulled back out onto the main road and headed toward town.
The same amber or caramel hair, streaked with much lighter strands by the sun. She was slender, compact, and the jeans and racer-back T-shirt she wore showing off her lightly tanned, well-toned upper body made her appear smaller and more fragile than her diminutive five-foot-four frame already did.
“Amy and I were betting you wouldn’t make it out after she told me who your brother and cousins were. ” Gypsy flashed her a quick, rueful grin. “I don’t know if I would have followed through after I learned Natches Mackay was your cousin if I hadn’t already promised. ”
Piper stiffened, turning to stare back at Gypsy warily. Great, she knew Natches. Piper wasn’t even going to bother asking how yet. Only one question was uppermost in her mind. “Did you contact him?”
